


Waiting Game

by DarthLuffy



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Friendship, Hizzie - Freeform, Hope might have one too, Missing Scenes, Slow Burn, but of course sucks at realizing it, lizzie's got a crush, so I obliged, there needs to be more Hizzie content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:33:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26522974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarthLuffy/pseuds/DarthLuffy
Summary: Lizzie realizes that she has a crush on Hope. Eventually.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson & Lizzie Saltzman, Hope Mikaelson/Lizzie Saltzman
Comments: 68
Kudos: 253





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** So I should be finishing up _What's Left Inside_ but that one is actually kind of tricky to write so I decided to take a break and write something easy and fun instead. And there's not enough Hope/Lizzie content. So I decided to write this. Enjoy. 

**W** **aiting Game**

"You, are a terrible dancer." Lizzie said, a smile across her face as she taunted Hope.

"Sorry for not being up to date on my eighties dances," Hope replied, suppressing a laugh at the idea. Her knowledge of dances stopped somewhere in the forties, due to having learned primarily from Rebekah and Marcel. "But hey if you want to try swing dancing later, let me know."

"You know how to swing dance?" Lizzie asked incredulously, not believing what she was hearing. Hope being able to dance as well as she had for the pageant had already been a surprise to her.

"It's actually pretty popular among the Crescent Wolf Pack. You know, jazz music, superhuman strength, a dance that involves throwing people into the air, all kind of goes together." Hope said, laughing at Lizzie's expression. She could tell that the blonde didn't really believe her, but it was true. Sure she had never actually danced with anyone outside her family but she knew how to do it.

"I might actually take you up on that then," Lizzie said, a mischievous smile on her face. "But first I need another drink."

Moving away from Hope, Lizzie went to the drink table, pausing as she weighed between the almost certainly spiked punch and just getting them a few waters. She would typically go for the punch but she couldn't remember ever seeing Hope drink before. As she was deciding she heard the DJ call out that there were only two songs left for the night, getting her to shrug and just take two cups of the punch.

"Lizzie!" She heard from behind her, rolling her eyes before turning to see an all to gleeful MG. "I didn't know you were here."

"It's a dance, at the school, where I live... of course I'd be here." Lizzie replied, barely refraining from rolling her eyes once more. Her and Hope had mostly stayed to the outside of the dance floor, being content to just enjoy themselves. She was pretty sure that Hope had actually growled when one of the boys had tried to slide in between them earlier but couldn't actually prove it. Not that she could blame her, the last thing she wanted tonight was more boy drama.

"That's... a good point I guess." MG said slowly, not sure why Lizzie seemed annoyed. Then again she had been pretty pissed by him showing her that Sebastian wasn't real. Except turned out he was, and that Kaleb planned to torch him later. Maybe coming over to her hadn't been the best idea? Especially as she'd apparently been hitting the punch hard judging by the two drinks she was holding. But hey, shooters shoot, right? "Anyways I was wondering if you wanted to dance?"

Lizzie tightened the grip she had on the drinks, her mouth parting slightly at that. Before she could cut into him a hand was placed on her arm, getting her to look over and see that Hope was there. Smiling Hope gave her arm a reassuring squeeze. "I was wondering what was taking so long with those drinks."

"You're that girl from Mystic Falls..." MG said, confusion evident on his face. Why was some chick from the human school at their dance? That was against every rule he knew of.

"Oh relax, Hope's here with me." Lizzie said, handing Hope her drink. Lifting her own cup to drink from she hid her smile as she saw Hope's eyes widen at the taste, the girl having not been expecting the alcohol. Finishing her drink she leaned over and took Hope's hand, pulling her back to the dance floor. "Come on, you heard the DJ, only two songs left."

Still confused by what had just happened MG moved to follow after them, only to stop dead as Hope turned and glared at him, her eyes flashing gold for a moment. It was just for an instance but he could feel the hair on the back of his neck raise at that. At least it explained why she was allowed to be here and why Dr. Saltzman hadn't wanted him to try and compel her, she was supernatural as well. A powerful one, going by the feeling he'd gotten, who was apparently very close with Lizzie. Despite him having never heard of her before tonight. All of which just added to the confusion he felt.

* * *

"What's so funny?" Hope asked, not missing the grin that was spread across Lizzie's face.

"Oh, nothing. Just amused at you growling at MG to get him to leave." Lizzie said, her grin widening even more as she saw Hope blush.

"I didn't growl..." Hope demurred, at least she pretty sure she hadn't. It was just that Lizzie had looked upset with him and they'd been having a good time up until then and she hadn't wanted it to end. "You didn't look like you wanted to dance with him anyways."

"Definitely not. I much prefer dancing with you." Lizzie said, giving Hope a wink that the girl laughed at. Hearing the final song of the night start, a slow one of course, she placed her hands just above Hope's hips, trying to take the lead. Almost immediately she stepped on her foot, getting her to pout at Hope, "I'm a foot taller than you, just let me lead."

"Sorry, just not used to dancing with-"

"Anyone competent?"Lizzie cut in, getting Hope to give a slight laugh. She had seen the travesty that was Landon trying to dance before, and it had been bad enough that it was a miracle it hadn't ruined her chance at winning the pageant.

"He wasn't that bad." Hope said, letting Lizzie guide them around the dance floor. They weren't really doing anything more that swaying back and forth but she had to admit that it was nice. It kind of amazed her just how easy it was to fall back into normal with Lizzie. Well not normal exactly, but maybe into something that she hoped would be normal.

"He's a hobbit, and not even one of the good ones." Lizzie retorted, rolling her eyes. Landon was definitely Frodo. Whiny, monster bait Frodo that had to be carried to be of any use. God she was so glad she had her memories back, having to think that Landon had beaten Malivore had been a form of torture. "Do you have any idea how mortifying it was to think Landon was the one to stop Malivore? Getting run through with the sword would have been worth it to fix that error."

Hope could only laugh at that, because it was ridiculous. And it was very Lizzie. She had missed that. "Is it sad that I missed this?"

"Slow dancing with a girl while your ex tango's with her sister?" Lizzie said with a smirk, getting Hope to lightly punch her on the arm for that.

"No, you being... well you. I missed it." Hope said, ignoring Lizzie's barbs for now.

"You're such a masochist." Lizzie said, shaking her head slightly at that. She could hear the song they had been dancing to starting to wind down, and see people gathering their stuff as they got ready to leave. "Hey, so there's going to be an after party out at the old mill after this, if you want to go?"

"Um, I don't know..." Hope said, having never been one for parties even before. She wasn't exactly the most social of people.

"Oh come on. I can't go back to my room so I pretty much have to go. Don't make me go alone. I can't be the girl that shows up to the party solo." Lizzie pleaded, giving Hope her knockoff version of Josie's puppy-dog eyes. It was never as effective as her sister's was but it seemed to be working as she saw Hope start to give in.

"Okay, fine. But only for a little bit. I intend on getting up early tomorrow to guard the portal again." Hope said, smiling as she saw Lizzie's eyes light up at her agreement. Dr. Saltzman had said that he would watch over the portal tonight, telling her to go and enjoy herself after she had texted him to let him know about the latest monster.

"Perfect, I always wanted to find out if your freakish healing ability could be used for drinking games." Lizzie said, a smirk on her face as Hope's eyes went wide.

"Tell me your joking." Hope said, staring at Lizzie in shock. She hadn't really drank since her Aunts' wedding and hadn't been planning on starting tonight, earlier drink Lizzie had given her aside. Following after the blonde as she moved to leave the dance floor she asked once more, "Lizzie you're joking, right?"

* * *

So despite Lizzie claiming that she couldn't go to the party alone it had actually ended up being Hope that had shown up alone. Lizzie had been pulled away by a group of witches who's names Hope couldn't care enough to remember, leaving her to show up on her own. Fortunately Raf had seen her as she showed up which led to the current situation, Hope laughing her ass off as a bunch of drunk werewolves tried to race up the outer wall to the top of old mill.

"Oh sure, laugh it up." Rafael said, smiling brightly as Hope continued to laugh at him. Sure he had fallen a good twenty-feet and possibly cracked his tailbone but it was worth it. "I'd like to see you try."

"Oh, is that a dare?" Hope said, smirking at Raf as she reached over and took another shot. Technically they were for the losers of the race but they were there and free and she was happy for anything that took her mind off Josie and Landon. It had been much easier to ignore when Lizzie was with her but once the blonde had ghosted her thoughts had taken a turn.

"Why not? Want to make it a race?" Rafael said, smirking at the prospect.

"Only if you want to lose." Hope taunted, pulling herself to her feet. The world was spinning slightly but not too bad, she was pretty sure it was supposed to do that anyways. Didn't gravity require spinning to work?

"Okay maybe this isn't a good idea," Raf said, looking at Hope with some amusement as she stumbled over to the start line they'd been using. "How many shots have you had?"

"No idea, didn't know I needed to keep count. I'll remember that for next time." Hope said happily, before shaking her head to clear it some. She was more buzzed than drunk, which was a feat in itself as she was fairly sure she had drank enough to fill a bottle. But it looked like Lizzie had been right and her healing factor did work for alcohol too. "Now get over here so you can lose."

"Okay, okay. Want to make this interesting and make a bet?" Rafael said, before his brain could catch up with his mouth. That hadn't been what he wanted to say. "Wait, I didn't mea-"

"I don't think you have anything I want." Hope replied, having paused to actually think about it for a moment. Shrugging she turned to face the wall, missing the look of hurt that flashed across Rafael's face.

"Right... on three then?" Raf asked, pushing past it and getting ready to race. Getting a nod in response he lowered himself into a stance, intending to take actually take this race seriously. He was taller, faster, and stronger than Hope, there was no way she could win. "Okay, one... two... three!"

The instant they took off Raf realized that his initial calculation of Hope's abilities might be off. To start with she was far faster than he had thought was possible, reaching the wall in half the time he did. Even as he pushed himself to close the distance he saw her grab hold of as small knot on the wall, using it to practically throw herself up the wall. She was far lighter than he was, and apparently stronger as well, and was using both to practically fly up the outer wall instead of climb. By the time he had made it ten feet up she was already at the top, turning back to smile down at him.

"Told you, you'd lose." Hope said, smirking down at Rafael. She had been as strong and fast as an average werewolf even before triggering her curse. Now there was no way to expect any of them to keep up with her, even one like Raf.

"Damn, maybe you should be the alpha." Raf said as she pulled himself up to the roof. He was partly serious about it, god knows he had been a shit alpha even before getting stuck in wolf form. He was already leaning towards stepping down and letting Jed take over again but if Hope wanted to do it he'd probably let her.

"Not happening," Hope said, shaking her head in protest. That was an awful idea for a whole variety of reasons. Starting with the fact that no one had any actual memory of her. If they did she was probably the last person they'd accept as alpha.

Raf actually seemed disappointed at that, and she was debating asking him about it, when the wind shifted an a familiar scent hit her. Turning away from Raf she walked a short ways across the roof, spotting a familiar blonde laying on the opposite side. "Raf, you think you could take the pack somewhere else? I have something I need to do."

Raf tilted his head in confusion before moving and spotting Lizzie. He hadn't known that Hope and Lizzie knew each other, but if she wanted a moment alone with her he was willing to grant it. Given that he could smell the alcohol on Lizzie from here she probably needed someone to talk to. "Right. Umm, I guess I'll head out then. It was good to see you again."

"Thanks Raf," Hope said, sparing him a smile before moving to Lizzie. Even from a distance she could see the girl was a bit of a mess, with tears staining her makeup, and a nearly empty bottle of something that smelled of cinnamon at her side.

"You ghosted me you jerk." Hope said as she sat herself of the roof beside Lizzie. Tilting her head she looked down at the party below suddenly confused at what she had said. That hadn't been what she wanted to say.

"Whoops. I did, didn't I?" Lizzie said, her words slightly slurred as she lay on the rooftop. There hadn't been enough air down below so she had come up here. And she'd only nearly fallen off the ladder once in the process. "I got ghosted too though. Or hallucinated? Not sure what works best."

"What are you talking about? You said you wanted me to come with you so you didn't have to go alone." Hope replied wondering what Lizzie meant. She had better not had some date she was planning on meeting after talking her into going with her.

"No, not like that." Lizzie said shaking her head slightly. Pushing herself up she tried to sit up straight, pulling her knees into her chest as tried to clear her thoughts. Between the alcohol and the general mess that was her brain it wasn't easy. "I saw Sebastian again. You know, the boyfriend I hallucinated? God I'm such a mess."

"Hey no, no you're not." Hope said, piecing together what Lizzie meant. She had eventually told her about her hallucination while stuck in the labyrinth and she hadn't really known what to say then either. Part of her wondered if it was really that simple. What Lizzie had described was so detailed it was hard to imagine it was just a hallucination, she couldn't help but wonder if someone had cursed her or there was something else going on.

"Yes I am. Poor broken Lizzie, crying alone on the roof cause no one real wants to be with her." Lizzie said, raising the bottle to drain what was left only to have Hope snatch it out of her hands. "Hey!"

"I'm here with you, aren't I?" Hope said, moving the bottle to her opposite hand to keep Lizzie from taking it back. She had clearly had enough for the night.

"Oh please, you're only here because I'm literally the only person that knows who you are." Lizzie retorted, wincing as she saw the hurt look on Hope's face. That wasn't fair to Hope, she knew that, but she was pissed and drunk, and didn't exactly have a reputation for making the best choices in the first place.

"Is that really what you think?" Hope asked, feeling herself sober up in a hurry as she talked with Lizzie. The alcohol wouldn't stay in her system that long to begin with but apparently if she wanted to she could speed the process up. And right now she wanted a clear head. "Lizzie I told you already, I missed you. You, and Landon, and Raf, and Josie. I finally had real friends, and maybe if I hadn't been such an idiot for last ten years we could have been friends a lot sooner."

"Don't forget the arson. That played a role too." Lizzie said, smiling at throwing her sister under the bus. It wasn't like her and Hope hadn't been more than willing to go at each other before but her twin certainly hadn't helped.

"Speaking of arson, that gives me an idea." Hope said, a smile on her face. Holding up the bottle she'd confiscated from Lizzie she swirled it around, seeing how much was left. Grinning she reared back, throwing the bottle way above them. For a second Lizzie wondered what Hope was doing before she raised her hand, igniting the bottle with a snap of her fingers and quick incantation, " _Incendia azul._ "

High above them the bottle burst in a blast of blue fire, lighting up the sky above them like a firework. It was pretty, very pretty, but it also meant that a cloud of blue flame was now falling down towards them. "Umm, Hope?" Lizzie asked, praying that Hope had a plan and hadn't been drinking as much as she had.

"Relax," Hope said, giggling slightly as she waved her hand in a circle. Above them the flames scattered, becoming individual embers that fell slowly around them before coming to a standstill in mid-air under the influence of her magic. Okay so maybe there was still more alcohol in her system than she had thought if this had seemed like a good idea. But it had worked out fine, and was very pretty. "They're still hot so don't touch them."

"Wow, fire is hot. Got it," Lizzie deadpanned, before bursting into giggles. It was just so absurd. She was sitting on the roof, drunk as hell, with a girl she had hated a year ago, surrounded by floating embers. "If this was a date I'm pretty sure this would be my cue to kiss you."

Hope jolted at that, turning to focus on Lizzie, her eyes darting down to the other girl's mouth for a moment. Turning her gaze she looked around and had to admit that she had a point, this was a pretty romantic setting she had accidentally created. Minus the several dozen drunk teenagers partying below them. "I think that's my cue to get you home, we've both clearly had too much to drink."

"Oh, wanting to take me back to your place already? How forward." Lizzie taunted, enjoying making Hope flustered. She should do that more often, it was fun.

"Shut up," Hope countered, smiling as she waved her hand and snuffed out the embers. Offering Lizzie a hand she pulled the girl to her feet, helping steady her as she wobbled for a moment. "Come on, let's get you back to your room."

"Need I remind you that what is happening in my room is the reason we're both out here drunk." Lizzie pointed out, getting Hope to wince. Yeah last thing she was doing was going back to her room. "I do not want to see any post-coital nest building."

"Lizzie!" Hope said, shaking her head at the girl.

"...That was supposed to be my inside voice." Lizzie admitted, before shrugging it off. Whatever, she had meant what she'd said. "I was supposed to be staying with my dad but I never actually told him thanks to getting thrown in that eighties hellscape."

"That's fine. I'm staying there already so we can just take your car and head there." Hope said, slowly guiding Lizzie over to where the ladder was to get off the roof. She was debating internally whether it'd be better to just levitate the girl down instead of letting her try to climb. It'd be faster, that was for sure.

"Why do we have to take my car? I don't want you driving it." Lizzie protested, as she tried to remember how ladders worked. It would definitely be Hope driving, she'd be the one that was actually sober by the time they made it back to school.

"Fine, we'll take one of mine if it's still there." Hope said, not particularly caring. She figured that the car was likely still there as Malivore removed memories, not actual physical possessions. She'd likely have to use magic to start it as who knew where the keys were but that would likely have happened with Lizzie's too. Honestly she just wanted to get back to her bed and sleep the night away, she still had to get up early to go guard a hell pit the next morning.

* * *

"This is it?" Lizzie said, looking around at the very sparsely furnished apartment her dad was staying at. It was a two-bedroom, two bath with a living room and a separate kitchen, which was fine as her Dad had been living alone. The second bedroom had only been for if her or Josie had wanted to stay over. But the living room was basically empty, just a single folding chair and small TV set on a stack of books near the far wall.

"It's not like either of us are ever here." Hope said, not seeing what the problem was. If she wasn't at school then she was dealing with a monster or watching over the Malivore pit. And if Dr. Saltzman wasn't at work then he was typically at a bar. Neither of them were using this place as little more than a place to store clothes and sleep.

"It's sad. I mean Dad's going through a mid-life crisis so this is pretty much what I expected but you should want better than this." Lizzie said, not even trying to hide how she felt. There were also some comments she could make on Hope and her Dad's weird pseudo-father/daughter relationship but she wasn't drunk enough to go blurting those out. Not anymore at least.

"Whatever, I'm going to take a shower. You know because someone knocked me out and hid me under a pile of leaves." Hope said, directing an empty glare at Lizzie.

"It worked out fine," Lizzie replied, dismissing Hope's comment with a shrug. Following Hope into one of the rooms she sighed as she saw how bare it was. A mattress thrown on the floor and a pile of school books and supplies in one corner. At least Hope's clothes were in an actual closet instead of just piled on the floor as she half-expected. "This is sadder."

"I can still hear you," Hope said as she grabbed some clothes from the closet and headed into the bathroom attached to the room.

"You were supposed too." Lizzie retorted, raising her voice as Hope shut the bathroom door behind her. Her first impulse was to just throw herself into the bed, but she didn't really want to sleep in the clothes she had been killed in a dozen plus times. Stepping out of the room she went to the room her dad was using, rummaging through his closet to find an old t-shirt that looked comfortable enough to sleep in.

Returning to the bedroom she pulled off her all to authentic eighties attire and pulled the shirt on instead. It reached about halfway down her thighs which was long enough to work as sleepwear for one night. Running her fingers through her hair she set down on the edge of the mattress, pulling it free of the clips that held it in place. She'd need a shower herself to wash out all of the hairspray in it but she was far too tired for that. Climbing under the covers she laid down, sighing in relief at how nice it felt. At least Hope hadn't skimped on getting a quality mattress.

Lizzie was almost asleep, despite her best efforts to stay awake, when Hope finally exited the bathroom wearing a simple pair of shorts and t-shirt. "Bout time," Lizzie mumbled, barely awake as she pulled back one side of the covers for Hope to get it.

"It's fine. I'll just sleep on the couch." Hope said, wanting to let Lizzie have the bed to herself.

"There isn't a coach." Lizzie pointed out, forcing herself to sit up in bed as she glared at Hope. Of course Hope would be stupid about this, she couldn't just get let her sleep like a normal person. "Hope, quit being stupid about whatever it is and get into bed already. And don't even try to do something dumb like sleep on the floor."

"Wow, didn't realize you wanted to sleep with me so badly." Hope said, taking the rare opportunity to tease Lizzie. She wasn't exactly comfortable sleeping with someone else but it was hard to tell her no.

"I don't like sleeping alone." Lizzie replied honestly, too tired to even pick up the innuendo in what Hope had said. She never really slept alone, her and Josie had always shared a room and many nights a bed and when she was traveling with her Mom they tended to room together. She didn't like being alone.

"Fine, but only because I'm too tired to argue." Hope said, caving rather easily. If nothing else she had to admit the bed looked far more inviting than the floor did.

"Good girl," Lizzie replied, falling face down on to her pillow as Hope turned the lights off. Feeling the bed shift as Hope slid in she turned slightly so she was facing Hope, unable to hide her smile at how quick Hope caved. For someone who liked to pretend that she was this tough loner she sure did give in to her and Josie easily. Feeling Hope's knee brush up against her thigh as the tribrid moved to get comfortable she sighed, already suspecting what Hope's reaction would be.

"Lizzie... tell me your wearing shorts." Hope asked, having frozen at the contact with Lizzie's bare skin.

"Where was I going to find shorts that'd fit me?" Sure she could've raided Hope's closest but that would have been rude. And they weren't anywhere close to the same size. "Just go to sleep and panic about it in the morning. I still wont be wearing pants then."

"Not helping Lizzie." Hope hissed back, debating whether it was better to just try the floor instead. There was carpet, it wouldn't be that bad.

"Hope, shut up and go to sleep." Lizzie said, her voice practically a whine. She didn't want to deal with whatever panic Hope was having right now. They could deal with it in the morning when she inevitably woke wrapped around her. Because Hope practically radiated heat and there was no chance that she wouldn't be drawn to that while she slept. Not that she was going to tell Hope any of that, it'd be more amusing to let her find out firsthand.

Giving in Hope sank into the bed and tried to relax, it was just for a few hours anyways. She still needed to get up early and go relieve Dr. Saltzman from portal duty after all. She could slip out before Lizzie ever woke in the morning. She didn't even know why it bothered her that much, aside from just not being used to sleeping next to anyone. It was Lizzie though, and after everything they'd gone through today she hadn't had the heart to tell her no. So she'd deal with it for a night and just hope that Lizzie stayed on her side of the bed.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** The idea was that this would be a few short looks at Lizzie's growing feelings for Hope over the course of season 2 through some missing scenes. Then I started writing and ended up with about 5k and only through one of the episodes I wanted to look at. So yeah this will end up being multiple chapters, mostly adding extra scenes like this. And eventually Lizzie might realize that she has a crush on Hope. Eventually. Anyways leave kudos, favorite, comment, the usual. Seriously I love getting comments, so feel free to comment or ask about anything, I'll almost certainly reply. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Chapter 2! Finally got around to finishing _What's Left Inside_ so I decided to update this one. This chapter basically picks off right after Lizzie's goes and drags Hope off to hang out with her in S02E06. Enjoy.

**Waiting Game**

"If I spend any time with Josie then I will inevitably blow your secret. If you want to protect her from heartbreak then you're stuck with me." Lizzie said, trying to convince Hope to give in and hang out with her. The fact that Josie had left for Richmond last night and there was zero danger of her actually spending time with her twin was beside the point.

"Okay," Hope said, shrugging her shoulders and giving in. It wasn't like she had really been planning to do much more than find excuses to stay near the portal.

"Oh don't be like that. You need to do something besides fight monsters and brood anyways." Lizzie said, dragging Hope along with her after they climbed out from under the table. Hope might not have noticed that Landon and Rafael were there but she had and had no intention of letting them derail her plans for the day.

"I do other..." Hope started before pausing, "I don't brood."

"...you were going to say you do other stuff but couldn't actually think of anything weren't you?" Lizzie pointed out, smirking at how Hope squirmed as she hit the nail on the head. "You need a hobby."

"I had a hobby." Hope countered, walking beside Lizzie as they headed into town. She had no idea where they were going, or if Lizzie even had somewhere in mind, but she didn't really care. It was a nice October Saturday and for the first time in ages she didn't have to worry about a monster showing up.

"No, you had a hobbit. I said hobby." Lizzie said, smiling far to widely at her own joke as Hope rolled her eyes.

"What I actually need is lunch, I'm starving." Hope said, deciding that should be her first priority.

"It's 11:30." Lizzie said, giving Hope a curious look. It was pretty early for them to be getting lunch.

"Yeah well, I've been out here all night and I'm part werewolf. So buy me some food first, then you can tell me what torture you have planned for today." Hope said, taking Lizzie's arm and forcefully pulling her in the direction of the Mystic Grill.

* * *

"And you said you didn't want anything." Hope smirked, watching as Lizzie stole more of her fries. Not that she actually minded, having ordered double because she suspected that would happen, but it did amuse her.

"Shut up," Lizzie said, throwing a fry at Hope's face that the girl caught with ease. Stupid supernatural reflexes.

Smiling Hope just shook her head before eating the fry she had caught, no point in letting good food go to waste. Looking for the waitress she caught her eye and waved her over, "I'm getting a milkshake, you want one?"

"No, get an extra straw though." Lizzie replied, reaching over and stealing another fry to replace the one she'd thrown.

"What? No. Get your own shake." Hope protested, not seeing any reason to share more of her food with Lizzie.

"Actually, I will. You probably have terrible taste anyways." Lizzie said, turning to the waitress as she walked up and getting her order in ahead of Hope's.

"Really? Just vanilla?" Hope said after ordering her usual, not having expected Lizzie to go with something so plain.

"It's a classic for a reason." Lizzie pointed out, Hope just shaking her head. "It's better than yours, why do you need your shake to be upside down?"

"Don't knock it until you've tried it," Hope defended.

"Fine, guess you are sharing then." Lizzie replied, smirking as she saw the look of suspicion on Hope's face. One way or another she would get what she wanted, and what she currently wanted was to mess with Hope by stealing her food. Some days it really was about the simple things in life.

"Hope!" A cheery female voice said, Lizzie turning to see an unfamiliar girl walking over to them. She was pretty, very pretty, with dark hair and dark eyes that lit up as she looked Hope over.

"Maya, hey." Hope replied, smiling as her friend came over. "I was wondering if I'd see you."

"I had detention this morning. Only came by here to pick up some lunch before heading to cheer practice." Maya said, shrugging and gesturing to the Mystic Falls school bag that had her cheer uniform in it. Finally taking notice of the girl that was at the table with Hope, she extended a hand to her. "Oh, hi. I'm Maya."

"Lizzie," Lizzie replied shortly, practically glaring at the girl. She was guessing that this was another friend of Hope's from the human school which was kind of shocking. Since when was Hope friendly?

Maya tilted her head slightly, wondering why the girl seemed upset with her. She guessed that she went to the Salvatore School as she didn't know her, and vaguely remembered seeing her at the game, but couldn't think of a reason for her apparent dislike. Stepping back as the waitress brought over a pair of milkshakes for the girls an idea came to her, "Oh, I'm not intruding on your date am I?"

Hope nearly choked on the milkshake she had just taken a sip of, "What? No, no. We're just friends." She clarified, Lizzie doing nothing to help matters as she simply smirked at her, calmly sipping on her own milkshake.

"I thought we had something special," Lizzie said, fluttering her eyelashes at Hope. That got Maya to laugh, Lizzie giving her a slight smile. Ok maybe she wasn't that bad.

"So how do you two know each other? Because Hope isn't... um..." Maya said, struggling how to describe Hope. She was hard to describe, she didn't even seem like she really went to the school, instead just dropping in when she felt like it.

"Friendly? Affable? Sociable?" Lizzie offered, knowing what Maya meant.

"You two know I'm right here right?" Hope said, narrowing her eyes at the two. God help her if somehow Maya and Lizzie became friends. Maya was nowhere near as bad as Lizzie but she enjoyed teasing her as well and if they teamed up... well there was a portal to a hell dimension not that far away.

"Obviously, that's what makes it fun." Lizzie informed her, getting Maya to laugh. "And I know Hope because she used to go to the Salvatore School."

"What? You never told me that." Maya said, looking at Hope curiously. She knew the girl was reluctant to open up but she thought Hope would have mentioned she used to go to the rich kid's school.

"It never really came up?" Hope tried, the look Maya gave her telling her that she didn't buy it.

"She got expelled," Lizzie chimed in, Maya turning to look at her as her jaw dropped.

"Lizzie!" Hope exclaimed, not believing what the girl was doing. Being the new kid who happened to be friends with the star QB and head cheerleader already brought her more attention than she wanted. Being the new kid who got expelled from the private school would be even worse.

"Hey you were the one that kept getting into fights." Lizzie continued, quite clearly enjoying herself. "Not to mention all those times you just ditched class or left the school altogether."

"I hate you." Hope said while glaring at Lizzie. Technically everything Lizzie had said was true, she had just left out a few important details. Details that she couldn't exactly tell Maya either.

Lizzie just smiled, taking another sip of her shake while Maya looked between them, able to tell that there was more to what Lizzie had said but not knowing what. "Honestly I would have thought the boots would be a give away. Have you ever seen anyone that wasn't a delinquent wear boots to school?" Lizzie continued, smirking as she saw Hope and Maya both glance down to the boots the tribrid was wearing.

"Delinquent wasn't really the vibe I got." Maya admitted, well acquainted with the type thanks to being somewhat of one herself. There was a different vibe she'd gotten, one she was still trying to decide if it was accurate or just wishful thinking on her end.

"Don't listen to Lizzie. It only feeds her ego." Hope retorted, Lizzie just rolling her eyes back at her slightly.

"Well as much as I'd like to stay and hear more about this, I do have to get to practice. And then take Ethan to therapy after." Maya said, sighing at the reminder of her brother's injury. "Another time?"

"Sure. Just don't expect any crazy stories, Lizzie like to exaggerate." Hope said, giving Maya a smile as she moved to leave.

"Oh, and Hope?" Maya said, pausing a few feet away. "If you decide you would rather be on date, just ask. I won't say no." Throwing Hope a wink to sell her point she turned to leave, leaving a rather surprised Hope and Lizzie behind her.

Watching Maya leave Lizzie's gaze narrowed, turning to a glare. "Seriously? How did you get the two hottest people at the muggle school to fall for you so quickly?"

"I have no idea." Hope admitted, resisting the urge to slam her head on the table. If she had been a normal girl she probably would have been thrilled to have either Ethan or Maya interested in her. They had both been great friends to her in the short time she'd known them and she'd be lying if she said she didn't find them attractive. But humans getting involved with her was bound to end in disaster so she had to keep her distance, for their sake.

"What is with you and siblings? First Landon and Raf, now Ethan and Maya. Not to mention Josie an..." Lizzie said, before stopping suddenly as she realized what she had been about to say.

"And you?" Hope finished smirking at Lizzie. She didn't really believe that Lizzie had ever had a crush on her but if Lizzie wanted to set her up like that she was going to take it.

"Keep dreaming," Lizzie deflected, rolling her eyes at Hope. "But you know what they say, twice is a coincidence, three time is a pattern."

"I can't control someone having a crush on me, Lizzie." Hope pointed out, Lizzie shrugging as she conceded the point. "And how did you even know Maya was Ethan's sister? It was kind of a shock when I found out."

"Umm, I actually listen to people?" Lizzie replied, Hope simply rolling her eyes in response. "I was sitting in the stands while you were out there failing at football. People talk. Also how are you so bad at sports? You're literally superhuman."

Hope shook her head at that, wishing she could forget her performance in that game as well. "You try playing sports while having to hold back that much. I have no idea how any of the vampires manage to do it."

"What made you want to be QB then?" Lizzie asked, having been wondering how Hope had ended up in that spot. She had never participated in the game the previous years, and had only had the excuse of being attacked by a dragon for one of them.

"That was Maya and Ethan's doing. I made a joke about going out for the football team, he apparently told Maya, and together they decided to torture me." Hope said, filling Lizzie in on how it had happened. At least that was the theory she was working with, having done her best to appear as unassuming as possible while at school.

"And then you faked an injury to get out of it?" Lizzie said, having seen the clearly fake injury Hope had limped off with.

"Landon didn't tell you?" Hope asked tilting her head curiously at Lizzie.

"He probably did. Doesn't mean I was listening." Lizzie admitted with a shrug. She remembered Landon showing up with Rafael the day after the game, and some whining about the monsters being back but hadn't payed it much attention. If Landon had been able to deal with the monster then clearly it wasn't worth worrying about. "...wait a minute, you were the one that turned Raf back? And killed the monster? I knew the garden gnome wasn't that competent."

"You really don't let up on him do you? He actually did kill the shunka." Hope said, a half smile on her face as she looked at Lizzie. Granted that had only been because Raf had put an arrow through it's chest while she had been busy distracting it, but it still counted. Though throwing herself at a monster five times her size that specialized in hunting werewolves had not been her best plan, and had resulted in more broken bones than she'd been willing to count. Still it had worked and it wasn't like she could have let Raf distract it, she had healed in a matter of minutes, Raf would not have been so lucky.

"Nope. And I'm not planning to." Lizzie replied instantly, not seeing any reason why she should. Sure he helped with research some, and was very handy if you wanted to stab someone, but that was it. He could still do both of those and not be at the center of a love triangle. Then she'd might be less prone to stabbing him at the first chance she got. "Now why don't you pay and let's get out of here?"

"Pay with what Lizzie?" Hope asked, narrowing her gaze at the girl. She had told Lizzie that she was the one buying lunch earlier. "I was erased from memory, remember? Can't exactly go to the ATM and make a withdraw." Well not a second time anyways. She had when she'd first gotten back but the accounts had been frozen afterwards and she had used everything she had initially withdrawn already.

"That... is a good point." Lizzie allowed, speaking slowly as she thought about it. Hope had never acted like it but she was loaded, as in enough money to fund the entire school several times over loaded. The fact that swan diving into Malivore had changed that had been missed by her until now. "Well I didn't bring any money."

"Lizzie! You drove here. Did you really not bring a purse or something?" Hope said, not believing this.

"Of course I did," Lizzie said, rolling her eyes. She wasn't an idiot. "But Daddy won't let me or Josie have any cards of our own, only cash. Personally I think it's his was of making sure we remain dependent on him."

"Then use cash," Hope said, not seeing what the problem was.

"I did. To buy gas. And Starbucks." Lizzie said, wincing slightly as she remembered spending the last of her money on overpriced coffee. "I have like two dollars."

"...ugh," Hope groaned, letting her head fall into her hands before taking a look around. There weren't too many people around at least. Focusing she flicked her wrist to the side, sending a garbage bin on the opposite side of the patio flying, drawing everyone's attention to it. _"Invisique."_

"And you said you weren't a delinquent," Lizzie said softly, Hope able to tell that she was smirking at her despite the invisibility spell she had just cast over them. Not bothering with a response Hope just turned and headed for Lizzie's car, wanting to get out of there before they got caught. She'd come back and pay later, or better yet make Lizzie come back and pay. This was her fault after all.

* * *

An hour later and the girls were back at Alaric's, having not exactly been able to do anything else thanks to their complete lack of money. Hope was sitting against the armrest of the couch Dr. Saltzman had bought after Lizzie's complaints the last time she was here. She had her feet pulled up onto it, her sketchbook balanced against her knees as she drew while Lizzie was sitting on the opposite side, her legs folded underneath her as she pretended to read a book.

Peering over her sketchbook book again Hope smiled, seeing that Lizzie had still yet to turn a page in it, her eyes instead locked on the TV across the room. "You know you can just watch the game, I don't care."

"What? No, I don't care about it." Lizzie said, quickly redirecting her attention back to the book she was definitely reading.

"Really?" Hope said, shaking her head slightly at Lizzie's behavior. Lizzie had turned the TV on while she was getting her sketchbook and it had just happened to be on the football game. Which she hadn't found suspicious as it was a Saturday in October, football was on every channel. What she hadn't expected was for Lizzie to clearly be watching the game, much less while trying to hide the fact that she was. "Hey Georgia just scored."

"What?!" Lizzie said, her head jerking up, realizing quickly she'd been had as she saw Georgia still backed up on the wrong side of the fifty yard-line and heard Hope laughing at her. Deciding to give up on the pretense as Hope had clearly seen through her, she tossed the book to the side before reaching for the remote and turning the game up enough for her to hear.

"I don't know why you were trying to hide it anyways. I don't care if you want to watch the game." Hope said, not paying attention to the TV as anything more than background noise anyways.

"It's embarrassing. How many supernaturals do you know that like sports?" Lizzie said, her eyes glancing over to Hope for a moment.

"Kaleb. Rafael. I'm pretty sure the entire Crescent pack are Saints fans." Hope said, listing them off as they came to mind.

"Ok, how many witches do you know that are then?" Lizzie asked, cutting Hope off as she started listing them. That had been what she had been getting at anyways.

"Umm..." Hope mused, not able to think of any at the school. Back home she imagined there were plenty as it was New Orleans, but it wasn't like she really knew any of them.

"Actually why am I even asking you? You can't name more than three witches from the school." Lizzie asked, Hope opening her mouth to protest before realizing she actually couldn't. "Point is that the only people growing up that cared about football were my Dad and Josie. So I got used to pretending I didn't care."

"You do that a lot. Pretend not to care." Hope said, a little surprised at Lizzie being so honest with her.

"Yeah, well it's easier." Lizzie said, deliberately ignoring the look Hope was giving her. It wasn't doubt or pity, but something a lot closer to understanding than she really wanted to think about.

For a moment Hope thought about pressing Lizzie on it, before deciding it wasn't her place to do so. Instead she returned her attention to her sketchbook, idly drawing in it. Even as she tried to focus on it though she kept finding herself distracted by Lizzie. The girl was completely focused on the game now, and every few minutes she would visibly react to it, rolling her eyes when something went wrong, or giving a tiny fist pump when something good happened. At first she had clearly been trying to restrain herself but as time went on she became more animated, no longer seeming to care that Hope was there.

Shaking her head to clear it, Hope returned to her drawing, muttering a quiet spell to change the color of her pencil as she hadn't wanted to buy a new set of art supplies. The shade of blue she wanted was tricky anyways and this way it would match what was in her memories. "Yes!" Lizzie yelled suddenly, clapping her hands together and getting Hope to jump in her seat. "Come on, go go... Ugh, dammit. So close."

Hope couldn't help it anymore and laughed, a soft sound that got Lizzie to turn to her, blushing as she remembered Hope was there. "I'm guessing your not a Georgia fan then?" Hope said, watching the replay as the Georgia QB was intercepted on the goal line and had it returned almost for a touchdown before being tackled just short.

"I don't really care to be honest. But they're playing Liberty, who isn't good." Lizzie said, explaining herself. She wasn't really a fan of any one team, she just loved the game and liked to see insane upsets. "Liberty winning is about as likely as Landon beating you in a fight."

"Or about as likely as the two of us sitting around watching football?" Hope retorted, giving Lizzie a half smile as she did. She had just been adjusting to being friends with the blonde before she'd erased herself and it still surprised her how easy it was for them to fall back into what they'd had before.

"I'm watching football, you're drawing what I can only assume is another emo picture of the hobbit." Lizzie taunted, shifting to face Hope as the game went to half-time. God she really hoped she wasn't actually drawing Landon, she just didn't know what Hope would actually be drawing.

"Hey, you're the one that said I didn't have a hobby." Hope pointed out, laughing as Lizzie rolled her eyes and glared off to the side. "And it's not of Landon."

"Oh?" Lizzie said, perking up at that. "Who is it of then?"

"Who says it has to be of anyone?" Hope asked, glancing down at what she had been working on. There truly wasn't anyone featured, not yet at least. She had been working on the background first, trying to get the lighting on the floating embers right.

Lizzie's eyes narrowed suspiciously at that, not believing for a moment what Hope was saying. She'd been smiling far too much while working on it for it not to be of someone. Before she could really focus on it though or try to get the truth out of Hope the sound of the door opening got her attention. "Hi Daddy."

"Lizzie? I wasn't expecting you today." Alaric said, adjusting the groceries he was carrying to hide just how little of it was actual food.

"She's decided to spend the day torturing me." Hope said, letting Dr. Saltzman now that she was there as well.

"Hope? I thought you were guarding the portal?" Dr. Saltzman said, looking between his daughter and Hope curiously.

"I was-" Hope started, before Lizzie cut her off.

"She was too busy flirting and a zombie got through. But then I caught it and we locked it up so everything is fine." Lizzie said, filling her father in on her version of what had happened, Hope rolling her eyes as she did. "So now she's free to hang out with me for the day."

"Right..." Alaric said slowly, feeling that he was missing a good part of the story. Hope had told him that Lizzie's memories had been restored, and they'd been looking into how, but it was still strange to see her be so comfortable with someone he didn't remember. Sighing he moved to the fridge, starting to put away the groceries he had bought. "So you two are friends?"

"In spite of all my objections," Hope said, wincing as Lizzie kicked her in the thigh for that jab. "Ow."

"You erased yourself from everyone's memory. You don't get to have objections." Lizzie said, not wanting to hear it. There was a ring of truth to what Hope had said, as it had been partly because of her pushing them away that her and Josie hadn't become friends with her sooner. That and arson.

"Speaking of objections, why wasn't I given a chance to object to my sixteen-year-old daughter going to Richmond for the weekend?" Alaric asked, turning from the fridge to give his other daughter a stern look. He was far from thrilled to have found that out through text.

"Because you would have objected?" Lizzie pointed out, giving a slight shrug of her shoulders. "Josie left last night anyways, so you're a little late to do the whole disapproving Dad bit."

"Oh I can still be disapproving when she gets back, let me assure you of that." Alaric said, placing the alcohol he had bought under the sink where it would be less obvious. "What's she doing in Richmond anyways?"

"No idea." Lizzie said, shrugging and turning in her seat to face the TV as she heard play start to resume. "I didn't ask."

"Of course you didn't," Alaric said softly enough that Lizzie wouldn't hear him. "I take it you're staying here tonight?"

"That's the plan." Lizzie replied, glancing over at Hope to see if the girl was going to say anything. She'd been unusually quiet ever since her Dad had come home.

"Ok, well any objections to hamburgers for dinner?" Alaric asked, not getting any from either of the girls. At least Lizzie being there didn't really change his plans for dinner, she was a far less picky eater than Josie was and he'd already needed to cook enough for four given how much Hope ate. And it'd be nice to have a real family meal for change, or at least as close to it as he could get at the moment.

* * *

"Ok out with it," Lizzie said, calling out Hope finally. It was late, they were getting ready for bed, and Hope had been in an abnormally good mood all night. It was starting to freak her out.

"Out with what?" Hope said, an all too sweet smile stretched across her face.

"Whatever it is that has had you grinning all night," Lizzie said, sliding under the covers of her side of the mattress. At least Hope wasn't being weird about sharing the bed with her this time, although part of that might've been because she was actually wearing shorts this time.

"So Josie's in Richmond, right?" Hope asked, getting a slow nod from Lizzie that she could make out in the dim light of the room. "Which means that you didn't need to hang out with me to keep from telling her anything. You did so because you wanted too."

"That's..." Lizzie started to protest before trailing off. Dammit, she had completely forgot about giving Hope that bullshit excuse earlier. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, and a nice justification for her having come and found Hope so early in the day. "Shut up."

Hope laughed at that, knowing that Lizzie didn't have any way to counter her. "Personally I find it sweet that the first thing you did after catching a zombie was to come find me so we could spend the day together."

"Ugh, it was a temporary lapse of sanity that I now regret." Lizzie retorted, not liking being on the other side of the teasing.

"Uh huh, I'm sure." Hope replied as she got into bed, her tone clearly indicating how little she believed that. She had been a bit focused on the other news Lizzie had brought her but she hadn't missed how excited Lizzie had looked at being able to spend the day together.

"Maybe I was just taking pity on you because no one else actually remembers you?" Lizzie retorted, instantly regretting it as she saw Hope's face fall. That was stupid, why had she said that? Oh, right, because her mouth was connected directly to her brain sometimes. "Dammit! I didn't mean to say that."

"Did you mean it though?" Hope asked, the playfulness from earlier gone as she turned onto her side to lock eyes with Lizzie.

"Of course not," Lizzie answered immediately. "My brain just doesn't work right sometimes. See the time I hallucinated a boyfriend if you want a recent example."

"Right..." Hope replied slowly, not too sure if she believed her. It wasn't like her to be so sensitive to, well to anything really. But being forgotten by everyone she loved had hurt more than she was willing to tell anyone.

"Hope, I could have done anything I wanted today. And I did. It's really that simple." Lizzie said, onto her side so she could see Hope better. She had been standing in the common room with a smoldering zombie at her feet, MG, Kaleb, and (for some reason she didn't understand) Kaleb's sister nearby and realized that the only person she had wanted to be with wasn't there. So she had left the cleanup to them and went to find Hope. "And honestly I'm leaning towards doing the same thing tomorrow."

"Oh, and who says I don't already have plans?" Hope teased, giving Lizzie a smile to let her know she was joking. It meant a lot to her that Lizzie had just wanted to hang out with her, and still wanted too. She had never really had a friend to do that with.

"Whatever. You know you have nothing better to do than hang out with me." Lizzie said, hoping that was actually true. Given what she'd seen today she'd wager that there were at least two other people that'd be more than willing to do a lot more than just hang out with Hope.

Hope just kind of shrugged at that, before using her magic to flip with last light off and settling in too actually get to sleep. There were probably a few better uses of her time than hanging out with Lizzie, such as keeping an eye on the portal or figuring out how her memories returned. But those problems would be there Monday as well, she could let herself take another day off, "Fine, if you insist."

* * *

Lizzie yawned as she trudged up to the main doors of the Salvatore School. It was too damn early for her to be up but she needed a new change of clothes. Then she could head back and climb back into the warm, comfortable bed she had vacated. Although the reason it had been so warm and comfortable might have gotten up by the time she got back.

"Wow, it's not the first time I've seen you doing the walk of shame but I think this might be the worse one yet." Came a voice from behind Lizzie, getting the blonde to groan as she recognized Alyssa' voice. "Been reduced to going for the human's now?"

"Fuck off Chang," Lizzie snapped, not wanting to deal with the bitch this early in the morning. Or ever.

"Great comeback," Alyssa taunted, pushing past Lizzie and entering the school first. Unlike Lizzie she was a morning person and after completing her morning run in a pretty great mood. "Somehow you're actually not the worst looking thing I've seen today. But only because the other guy looked like he had been dropped in a vat of acid."

Lizzie stood there a moment before what Alyssa said caught up to her. Letting out a groan she resisted the urge to bang her head into the side of the door. Part of her wanted to ignore it, to go back to her dad's and crawl into bed with Hope and pretend she hadn't heard anything. But she knew she couldn't actually do that. Realizing all her plans for a relaxing morning and simple day off were ruined she let out a loud groan, "Ugh... Dammit! Fine, where did you find the dead guy?" Being the good guy really wasn't worth it sometimes.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** So two things really amused me when I rewatched this episode. One, it starts with Josie in New Orleans, which means not only was she not in Mystic Falls but had probably been gone for at least a day given the travel time. So no real need for Lizzie to need to hang out with Hope to avoid her twin. And second, it's quite clearly a different day when they learn of the Croatoan, like it shows a night in between and they're all wearing different outfits and everything. So Lizzie just really wanted to spend time with Hope, and made up a reason to do so. Anyways this was fun to write, and I'll try to update sooner next time. No promises though, as I really need to update _Hanging On By A Thread_ first. Other than that, usual stuff, leave comments cause I love those, subscribe, give kudos, etc.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** Chapter 3, set around episodes 10 and 13. The pacing of the 2nd half of the season makes it a little harder to find realistic moments for Lizzie and Hope to bond. Especially as episodes 10-16 should realistically take place over only a week or so. And I had already done fics involving some of those moments. Still there were enough gaps that I was able to come up with this. So read, enjoy and tell me what you think. 

**W** **aiting Game**

"Remind me why we're not just doing this ourselves? Is the kumbuya circle really necessary?" Hope asked, still not sure why they were making this more complicated than it needed to be. Sure, making a new ascendant required a ton of magic, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. And it would be faster, as in they could be done with enough time left to go get dinner instead of needing to wait for Emma to gather up all the witches.

"Think of this as a chance to bond with your fellow witches," Lizzie said airily, giving Hope a look. If anyone needed to actually make friends among them it was Hope. Alyssa had more witch friends than Hope did. "Besides, Josie went through all the trouble of setting it up, so if we don't then she'll pout for a week."

"Hey!" Josie interjected, a slight pout on her face. That wasn't fair, it had been as much Lizzie's idea as hers. "You're the one that said that we shouldn't keep relying on Hope to fix all of our problems."

"Yeah, and? Waiting for deus ex Hope should not be plan A," Lizzie retorted. Granted it did always seem to work, but there was no guarantee that would always be the case. "See earlier monster allergic to fairy dust."

"Actually I'm pretty sure I could have killed it anyways," Hope chimed in, getting both twins to turn and look at her. "Once it was on our plane it should have been vulnerable, that's why Landon was able to fight it."

It was only a guess but given that it had seemed to be in pain from Landon's punches it clearly wasn't invulnerable. She had realized it then but as it had the Morisarium she decided to be cautious and give Wade a chance. If that hadn't worked then she could've torn it apart with magic afterwards.

"Whatever, my point is that we can't expect you to fix everything for us. We should fix our own messes," Lizzie said, unfazed by Hope's point. She meant it though, they couldn't keep relying on her to fix everything, it wasn't fair to her. It was why she had sought Emma out for help with the spell to begin with instead of Hope, despite Hope being the clear and obvious choice.

"Ugh, fine. But if I end up having to hold hands with Alyssa I won't forgive you," Hope said, glaring at the twins from where she sat on Lizzie's bed. She had been helping them make sure there weren't any last minute adjustments needed for the spell, as they were only locking away an object and not a person. Mostly though it had just been an excuse for her to hang out, as she hadn't seem either of them as much as she wanted recently.

"Come on Hope, where's you Coven Day spirit? Maybe you should try and make nice," Lizzie said, her smirk giving away that she didn't believe anything she was saying.

"Didn't she set you on fire once?" Hope reminded Lizzie, wiping away her smirk.

"Didn't Josie set you on fire?" Lizzie retorted, getting a squeak of protest from her twin.

"Hey! I've never set anyone on fire," Josie countered, before remembering that wasn't exactly true, "...that you know of."

Hope and Lizzie turned almost in sync to look incredulously at Josie, before Lizzie realized something. "Wait, is that what Satan meant? How did you end up making her hotter by setting her on fire?"

Hope laughed at that as Josie turned red, she had actually seen Josie set Penelope on fire after all, but it had slipped her mind. And she had nothing but respect that Penelope was able to turn that into a look that worked so well for her. "You never let up on her, do you?" Hope said, referring to Lizzie's continued jabs at Penelope.

"Oh, you mean let up on my sister's former dalliance with the devil herself? Evil incarnate? She-who-must-never-be-named? No, why would I?" Lizzie retorted rapidly, Josie just shaking her head at Lizzie's antics.

"You should hear what she says about Landon when you're not around," Josie said, getting Hope to look at her curiously.

"Given what she says about him when I am around, I'm now concerned. What do you have against my boyfriend?" Hope asked, eyes practically glittering as she asked Lizzie. She could tell it made blonde uncomfortable and she relished any chance to have the shoe on the other foot for once.

"That he's your boyfriend," Josie said softly, not intending for anyone to actually hear her before remembering that Hope had werewolf hearing. Eyes wide she looked up, shaking her head subtly as she locked eyes with a shocked Hope, wishing she had telepathy to tell her not to say anything about it.

"-tab someone. And even then he dies too easily. Plus he's like three feet tall, there are actual hobbits who are taller." Lizzie continued in a deluge, the moment between Josie and Hope passing by her unnoticed. "Which I guess works for you since you're hobbit sized as well but still."

"I'm not that short," Hope protested, latching onto the last thing Lizzie had said. Internally her thoughts raced though, what had Josie meant by what she had said? Lizzie might not actually hate Landon, but it was close, and the reason was apparently because of she was dating him? Did that mean-

"Yes you are," Lizzie said shortly, snapping Hope out of her thoughts. "I've seen you use magic to get stuff off the top shelf instead of even trying to reach it."

"That's just because it's more convenient," Hope replied, trying to defend herself as Josie laughed. It really was though, why bother rummaging through the cabinets to find everything when she could bring it to her with a flick of her hand?

"Whatever you need to tell yourself," Lizzie said with a smirk. It was almost cute that Hope was trying to deny it, when she was nearly a foot shorter than she was.

"Why do I hang out with you again?" Hope asked, a slight smile on her face all the same. Despite making up with Josie several times things had still been awkward between them since she had returned to the school. And she had barely seen Lizzie in that time, the blonde having spent all her time with her new boyfriend. She had missed them.

"Because you're a masochist obviously," Lizzie said, getting Josie to turn red and Hope's mouth to fall open at that. Clearly the tribrid hadn't thought she would go there, which was what made it fun.

"Lizzie!" Josie said, about to admonish her sister before the door to the girl's room opened.

"Everything's prepared outside, are you girls ready to do this?" Emma asked as she entered the room, a proud smile on her face. It was good to see them taking the lessons of Coven Day so seriously.

"We're ready," Josie confirmed, glancing at her twin to be sure. They had originally done this when they were only five, Hope had double checked the spell they were using, and there were over dozen witches to help power it. What could go wrong?

* * *

"Mind making me one of those?" Hope asked, getting Lizzie to jump from where she was making a sandwich in the kitchen. Laughing softly she walked over to take a seat at the counter, missing the way Lizzie had winced after jumping.

"I didn't think anyone else would be up this early," Lizzie said, before taking a proper look at Hope. Her hair was a mess, and she was wearing simple shorts and a t-shirt with a robe pulled around her, but Hope looked far more alert than she herself was. "Were you out running?"

"Yeah, couldn't get back to sleep," Hope admitted, sighing slightly. There were plenty of reasons why obviously, Landon nearly being killed, Dorian being shot with an arrow, the fact that Rafael had been kidnapped and they hadn't known, and of course how close a call it had been in stopping Alyssa from destroying the prison world.

"Same," Lizzie said, nodding in solidarity. Finishing up her sandwich she pushed it across to Hope before starting to make a new one for herself. Hope looked like she was about to protest before her stomach growled and she blushed, deciding to just go ahead and eat what she had been offered. "In my case though it was because Josie kept having sex dreams."

"What!?" Hope sputtered out, choking on the P. B. and J Lizzie had made as she tried not to spit it out from shock.

"Yeah, twin bond is not as fun then," Lizzie said, ignoring Hope's gawking as she continued to make another sandwich. "It better not have been about Landon, she needs to be over that hobbit. Or about you. Oh, god, what if it was about both-"

"Lizzie!" Hope said sharply, cutting her off. "Please, I don't need to know. Especially not this early in the morning."

"Right, sorry," Lizzie said, admitting that she had a point. She shouldn't be telling Hope that her twin was fantasizing about her still, that could only end badly. Maybe she needed some coffee, that'd help wake her up. Moving to the cabinet she reached up to the top shelf to get it, wincing and pulling back as the movement caused her wound to ache.

This time Hope didn't miss it, and was out of her seat and moving to Lizzie's side immediately. "You didn't tell me you were hurt," Hope said, reaching out to touch Lizzie's side, having seen her grab at it.

"It's fine," Lizzie lied, pulling away from Hope's touch.

"Lizze, let me see," Hope said, her tone leaving no room for argument as she locked eyes with the blonde. Reluctantly Lizzie relented, pulling up the side of the her shirt to show Hope the jagged wound along her side. It wasn't pretty, an ugly red scar half an inch thick starting just to the left of her belly button and continuing all the way around to her side.

"Dad did his best to stitch me up, and they gave me some blood from that vamp we brought back but I guess it wasn't enough. There goes ever wearing a bikini again," Lizzie said, trying not to pull away as Hope ran her fingers along the scar.

"Well I can fix that," Hope said, gesturing with her finger and getting a knife to fly over to her from one the drawers Lizzie had left open. Taking hold of it she sliced her hand open before Lizzie could even think to stop her. "Here, drink. I promise it'll work better than some random vamp."

"Hope, what are you.. I can't," Lizzie protested, more out of shock at Hope being so willing to cut herself open than any real desire to say no.

"Look, do you want to be able to wear those crop tops you love so much again? Then drink," Hope said, cutting her already healed hand open once more and offering it to Lizzie.

"Blood, coffee, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The perfect way to start the day," Lizzie muttered softly, before relenting. She was pretty sure if she kept arguing then Hope was going to keep cutting herself until she agreed so might as well get it over with. Trying not to think about how awkward it was or how it had to to look she brought Hope's hand to her mouth, drinking the blood running from it.

Immediately she could feel her wound healing, a slight pain as it pulled apart the stitches and re-knit itself, an itch as new skin grew to replace the raw scar tissue that had been there before. "Wow," Lizzie said softly as she pulled away, her left hand feeling along where the wound had been and feeling nothing but smooth skin. "That was a lot less erotic than I thought it would be."

Hope burst out laughing at that, not believing that was what Lizzie was concerned about. She did have a point though, in the cheesy vampire movies she'd seen they always made it look much more enticing. In reality it had been more of a sucking up the blood that was still on her hand, than actually drinking from her given how fast she healed. Much less attractive. "You uh, you got something there," Hope said, pointing to Lizzie's blood-stained mouth as she tried to keep from laughing. Maybe it was the lack of sleep but it was just funny to her.

"Ugh, I am never becoming a vampire," Lizzie said, wiping at the blood around her mouth with her right hand only to realize that it was already covered in blood that had dripped from Hope's hand. How did her mom manage to deal with this all the time and not have stains on all her clothes? "I would've killed Sebastian if he managed to turn me."

"Come again? Sebastian tried to turn you?" Hope asked as Lizzie walked over to sink and started washing off the blood. She had been fairly sure Alaric had killed him when he had just vanished.

"Guess I didn't mention that yet," Lizzie said, in between dabbing at her mouth with a rag to get the blood off. "That get it all?" Lizzie asked, looking up to see Hope nod in confirmation before realizing that Hope had just used a spell to get the blood off of her. That was kind of annoying. Still now that she was free of blood she could finally get around to making the coffee that had been the cause of this.

"Anyway, Dad apparently had him banished there. Turns out that was the whole reason Emma suddenly came back," Lizzie continued, filling Hope in on the details. She had learned as much from Sebastian, while her Dad and sister were busy with everything else. "So while Dad and Josie were dealing with our insane uncle and murderous former students, I was playing house with Sebastian. Literally. He actually took me to this huge mansion outside of town, and we stayed there until he slipped me blood and tried to force me to turn."

"How did you get hurt then?" Hope asked, having assumed that it had been because of Kai or one of the other students she saw. It hadn't escaped her attention that there had been one less that made it out than what she had seen while astral projecting.

"Ugh, so he slips me blood and then tries to say that's it for my own protection? Like I can't protect myself. So I left. But then he followed my and wanted to kill me to force me to turn but also couldn't even get my name right, so I desiccated him," Lizzie said, almost sounding proud at what she'd done. "Of course while I'm driving back Josie broke the sand-clock and the rush of dark magic made me black out and wreck the car. That's when I got hurt, never even got to actually meet my lunatic uncle."

"Trust me, you didn't miss much," Hope said, derision heavy in her voice. She had actually been disappointed in how easy it was to handle Kai, given all of Alaric's warnings and concerns she thought he'd be a threat. But no, all it took was faking a little insecurity and he'd spilled his whole plan while leaving himself vulnerable to capture.

"Well I'm done with that, no more dating vampires of unknown age for me," Lizzie said getting a laugh from Hope. She had never really bought Sebastian saying that he been desiccated since he was seventeen, he had seemed to be quite a bit older than that and there wasn't anyway for them to verify what he had said. Not that it mattered now. "You know, I actually wondered for a moment if he might've been a Mikaelson that got Malivored."

"What? Why would you think that?" Hope asked, eyes wide in surprise. She was pretty sure Freya would have told her if she had remembered any extra siblings.

"I don't know, he was hot and dangerous and..." Lizzie said, stopping as Hope started laughing.

"So that's all it takes to be a Mikaelson, being hot and dangerous? So glad to know that's what you think of me," Hope got out, trying to fight back another laugh. She really must be sleep deprived if she was finding everything this funny. But Lizzie's idea of what made a Mikaelson was hilarious to her, at least partly because there was a measure of truth to it.

"Shut up, you didn't let me finish. There were other things too," Lizzie defended, shaking her head at Hope laughing at her. Yeah, hot and dangerous described Hope pretty well too but that hadn't been what she had meant. "He was able to do some pretty high level vampire stuff. Plus why was he buried under the school? And there's been like five different things happen here that should've killed him, desiccated or not."

"Well I'm pretty certain that he wasn't a Mikaelson. And it's not like it matter now anyways," Hope said, before wincing at how that had come out. It was true of course, Sebastian was as dead as you could get, but she shouldn't have said it like that. "Sorry, sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

"It's fine, I'm done crying over him. I've done enough of that," Lizzie said, shrugging it off. Of course it wasn't as easy as simply saying that and moving on but she had a lot of experience at locking away things she didn't want to actually think of. Not the healthiest coping mechanism but it worked, for a little while at least.

Hope gave Lizzie a soft smile, about to say something before hearing someone walking toward them. Turning she was surprised to see Emma entering the kitchen, having thought the woman would still be at the hospital.

"Morning, girls," Emma said in greeting, nodding as the girl responded in kind. Eyes lighting up as she saw the coffee already made she poured herself a cup, sighing in contentment at the smell.

"Want us to leave you alone?" Lizzie asked, smirking at how much Emma was enjoying the coffee. Granted it was pretty good, but not that good.

"I've been up all night. You'll have to forgive me for indulging in a decent cup of coffee," Emma said, taking another sip. The coffee at the hospital had left a lot to be desired, starting with flavor and warmth.

"How's Dorian doing?" Hope asked, knowing that was where Emma had been. She had offered to heal him with her blood, much as she had with Lizzie, but they were worried about it reacting with the golden arrow somehow. About all they knew about it was that it had been made to kill supernaturals, but which ones or how was an open question.

"Recovering. The surgery went as well as one could hope. So now all there is to do is wait," Emma said, being careful not to let her displeasure show. She just wished there was more they could do but the chance of anything supernatural making it worse were just too high.

"Well, let me know if there is anything I can do," Hope offered. The whole reason Dorian had gotten hurt was because she had thought Kai was just trying to get her alone. If she had thought that they would've actually be in danger she would've never let them leave, even if that had meant tipping Kai off.

"Actually there is one thing," Emma said, a smile coming to her face. She needed to find more people for the session anyways and Hope was somehow who could definitely benefit. "You see I'm planning and group therapy session for this afternoon and I was hoping the two of you would join."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Done. There will be just one more chapter, which with any luck I'll have up pretty soon, then I can turn my attention to getting the next chapter of Hanging On By A Thread out. As always subscribe, leave kudos, write a nice long comment detailing everything you like, and check out some of my other works. All of those things mean a lot to me. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** This should've been done a month ago but I kinda forgot that I hadn't actually finished this. Whoops? Oh well, it's done and out now, so enjoy the last chapter of _Waiting Game._

**W** **aiting Game**

"Hey, how are you holding up?" Hope asked as she approached Lizzie. The girl was just sitting on her bed, staring over at Josie's, where her sister should be. Instead Josie was still unconscious in the cells with Alaric standing watch over her.

"Oh you know, as well as can be expected after nearly being murdered in a noir film by my twin's evil alter ego," Lizzie said, summing up the events of the day rather succinctly.

"Right," Hope said shortly, having been expecting something similar. Walking over she sat on the bed next to Lizzie, leaving barely any room between them. "We'll find a way to help her."

"I know," Lizzie said, surprising Hope a little. "I just... I should have noticed. My sister had a full on psychotic break and I didn't notice. I should be the fucking expert on what to look out for."

"Lizzie... you can't blame yourself," Hope said, leaning a bit to tap Lizzie with her shoulder. They had all missed just how close Josie was to losing control, Lizzie shouldn't blame herself.

Lizzie didn't say anything, instead just leaning over and laying her head on the shorter girl's shoulder. She was glad that Hope had come to check on her, she couldn't stand being alone right now. "Am I a horrible person?"

"Only some of the time," Hope answered, smiling as she heard Lizzie give a snort of laughter at that. "Of course you're not. Why would you think that?"

"Because Josie is possessed by dark magic and I'm somehow making it about me?" Lizzie said softly, still keeping her head on Hope's shoulder. Instead of waiting for an answer she pressed on, "Do you think it's just the dark magic making her this way or..." she didn't want to finish that thought.

Hope didn't answer immediately, instead taking her time to get her thoughts right, "I think, that the dark magic caused her mind to fracture. Everyone has parts of themselves they hate and keep locked away, the magic she took in found those and amplified them."

"So yes?" Lizzie said hesitantly, not wanting that to be the answer. She didn't want her twin to want her dead. She didn't want Josie to hate her.

"No, not really. Speaking from experience it's not that simple, dark magic takes the smallest feelings, ones you would never act on, and twists them into something darker. A slight annoyance that would've made you roll your eyes before can be changed to making you wanting to kill them. And then the urge keeps building until you finally give in," Hope expounded, being far more familiar with the subject than pretty much anyone at the school.

"Well that's great. Cause I've never annoyed Josie," Lizzie said, sarcasm clear in her voice. "Maybe I should just start planning my own funeral. There could be flowers, and music, a video tribute maybe. Maybe you do the eulogy? Or would it be better to leave it to MG?"

"Come on Lizzie, do you really think I'll let anything happen to you?" Hope said, kind of annoyed that Lizzie was just writing herself off.

"No..." Lizzie grumbled out, admitting Hope had a point. She wasn't quite a defenseless damsel in distress but Hope played the heroic knight swooping in at the last minute pretty well. "You did come save me in that fifties hell after all... eventually."

"I didn't even know who you were. You should be glad I showed up at all," Hope teased, both knowing that she didn't mean it. She needed to find Emma and punch her later for ever sending her into that, how was a fictional life that overwrote their own memories supposed to help anyone? "You never did keep your promise you know, to tell me what my word meant."

"Ugh, I only said that so that you'd say it and we could leave. I don't speak Latin Hope," Lizzie said, finally lifting her head from Hope's shoulder just so the tribrid could see her rolling her eyes at her. "Fatum, right? I guess that means fate?"

"Close, although a more accurate interpretation would be a doomed fate, or undesired one at least," Hope said, Lizzie just staring at her.

"You know Latin? Wait, of course you do, you're Hope," Lizzie said, getting over her surprise quickly. Given how many spells were in Latin it wasn't that shocking, and Hope knew more about magic than anyone she knew. "And what do you mean 'doomed'? Cause from where I'm standing it turned out pretty well."

"Yeah, well I also chose not to be with Landon. Again," Hope said, shrugging forlornly as she did. "It's like my own brain is telling me that we're never going to work."

"Maybe your brain is just telling you that you don't actually love him?" Lizzie said, her eyes widening as she did. Crap, she hadn't meant to say that. Pointing out Landon was a less than useful garden gnome was fine, suggesting that Hope might not love him was definitively not. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

Hope just stared at Lizzie, the shock of what she had said taking a minute to wear off. She wanted to refute what Lizzie said, tell her that she was wrong. But she didn't. She just let out a sigh, giving Lizzie a tired smile, "It's fine. I know you didn't mean it."

_'Bullshit,'_ Lizzie thought instantly, thankfully not saying so out loud for once. Of course she had meant it, they both knew she had meant it. And for some reason Hope didn't even want to try and argue against what she had said. "So my safe word was caecus, what does it mean?" Lizzie asked suddenly, grasping for something to change the subject.

"Blind. Or I guess oblivious would work better," Hope answered, letting Lizzie change the subject. It wasn't too hard to guess what Lizzie's word had been referring too. They had just been talking about her missing the signs with Josie after all.

Great, now her own subconscious was throwing shade at her. "Bit on the nose, isn't it?" Lizzie said, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"A little. I'm not sure about the others but I feel like our escape words were just reflections of our own subconscious thoughts," Hope reasoned, shrugging her shoulders. The stupid game had been based off a chambre de chais and that was representational magic, so she wouldn't be shocked if it followed similar rules.

"So whose subconscious do you think stuck us in knock-off Casablanca?" Lizzie asked, having been wondering that for awhile. "It wasn't MG, or we all would've been stuck wearing spandex. Maybe it was Raf, he's boring enough to think noir-world would be interesting. Or Emma, she's old."

"Lizzie..." Hope said, shaking her head at Lizzie. "I thought you liked Raf."

"Yeah, until I realized there were cardboard cutouts with more personality," Lizzie said, not feeling any reason to hold back. She had gone for Raf mostly because he was new and hot, not because she'd ever felt any real connection to him. "I clearly have a type, new, mysterious, hot, brooding, probably dangerous. I might've fallen for you if my memories hadn't come back so early."

Hope's eyes widened at that, darting over to Lizzie as she wondered if she was being serious. She didn't really sound serious, but Lizzie never really did. And while she was certain that Lizzie had started down this path as a way to distract her from Josie, Hope couldn't help but wonder how much truth there was to what she was saying. "I'm not sure if I should be flattered or offended."

"Flattered, obviously. My taste in guys may suck but I have excellent taste in women," Lizzie said, leaning away from Hope and giving her an exaggerated wink.

Hope tilted her head slightly, giving Lizzie a curious look, "Who els-" she started to ask, before getting cut off as the door to the room burst open.

"Oh good, you two are together. That saves me another trip," MG said, smiling brightly at the two girls. "Dr. S sent me to get you, he said it looks like Josie is starting to wake up."

Lizzie and Hope shared a worried glance at that, before both leapt to their feet. They had both been hoping that she'd stay under longer, give them more time to find a way to help. Now though they had no choice but to face Josie head on and see if things were as bad as they feared they were.

* * *

Sitting down on the bed Lizzie pulled her knees into herself, wrapping her arms around them and holding them to her. She wasn't even in her own room, instead having been moved to Hope's under the cover of an invisibility spell where she was supposed to hide out and stay until it was safe. Not that she had any idea when that would be.

She wasn't even scared, not any more. She had to face her biggest fear to even get into the ring with Josie, now she was just drained as she waited for Hope to save the day. Because Hope would save the day, she didn't doubt that for a second. Even when she'd ran away she'd never doubted Hope, she'd doubted herself being able to hold up for her part. And even when she hadn't been able to it hadn't mattered, Hope had found a way to win even when she lost.

That would've pissed her off it had happened last year, the idea of Hope being so annoyingly perfect that she was able to pull out a victory no matter how hopeless it seemed. Now, with her sister's life on the line, she was just grateful Hope considered them worth saving.

Shaking her head she looked around for something to distract her, she didn't want to spend all night brooding after all. That was a Hope move, and an annoying one at that. Maybe if she was lucky she'd even find something embarrassing to hold over Hope. She kind of doubted it though, as Hope had stupidly had her dad burn all of her stuff before swan-diving into Malivore. Rummaging through Hope's drawers she gave a wicked grin as she found a notebook, sitting back down on the bed before cracking it open, hoping to find something scandalous.

Instead her face dropped as she realized quickly that this was just a notebook for Hope's spell ideas. Which was a little cool, but not what she'd been hoping for. Flipping through it anyway as she had nothing better to do she couldn't help but be surprised to see how many were related to her or Josie. The first several pages were filled with ideas for how to suppress the sand-clock or nullify it's magic, followed by twice as many pages on how ways to force her way into the prison world. There were even a few notes on ways to force Alyssa to talk, some of which had been scratched out to the point of being nearly illegible but had enough remaining to make Lizzie wince. Hope had apparently been getting close to literally tearing the information out of Alyssa before her lunatic uncle had shown up.

The next couple of pages had a few notes about the golden arrow, and what Hope thought it's capabilities might be, along with a few scrapped ideas for protection spells to block it. Then they shifted to the most recent problem, and there were a lot of notes and ideas jotted down for it. Flipping forward Lizzie counted nearly a dozen pages, all filled with ideas for how to take the dark magic out of Josie, how to stop her without hurting her, how to keep everyone safe.

Reaching the last page her eyes went a little wide as she saw just how complicated the potion Hope had used to keep her safe was. It alone took up a page and half and had was so complex that even with her capabilities she doubted she could recreate it. Calling it a potion was almost an insult, it was more of a liquid spell by the time Hope had finished, the tribrid having used multiple spells to change it's properties and effects until she had created exactly what she needed. It was mindbogglingly complex and the fact that Hope had created it in maybe half a day left her head spinning.

Setting the notebook aside she fell back onto Hope's bed, letting out a sigh. She knew that Hope did a lot for them, but there was something about seeing it written down that hit her hard. Whenever Hope showed up and saved the day with some spell no one had ever heard of they all had tendency to just shrug and attribute it to Hope being Hope. But it wasn't that simple, she didn't just open a book and pull out the perfect spell for a problem no one had ever faced before. It was only possible because she was a prodigy at witchcraft in addition to being unfathomably powerful and strong and gorgeous.

It was also annoying as fuck, because seriously did Hope have to try and take on every problem by herself? Ok sure, she hadn't really been a lot of help the last few days, and trapped in a prison world for a while, but she surely she could've helped with some of this. Hope was too short to be trying to take all of their problems onto her shoulders.

Smiling at her own dumb joke Lizzie couldn't help but wish Hope was here. She hated to sleep alone to begin with, and the reasons for not being able to have either Josie or Hope nearby made that even more apparent. Part of her wanted to sneak back into her dad's office and sleep there, at least then she'd have someone nearby. But wishing for something she couldn't have at the moment wasn't going to do her any good, she'd be better off just trying to sleep and hoping things were better in the morning.

* * *

So despite her best efforts Lizzie hadn't been able to get to sleep. Which had led to what was surely a spectacularly stupid idea. That had worked thanks to the horribly tacky ring she'd found while snooping around Hope's room. "Wow, you missed that me that much?" Hope said, giving Lizzie the most annoying smirk.

Smiling in spite of herself Lizzie just shrugged, "Huh, you know, I was actually expecting Josie." So yeah, maybe risking being discovered to sneak into her room to steal the prism just so she could feel less alone was a bad idea. But it worked so who cares?

"No you weren't. Or I wouldn't be here," the projection of Hope said, that same annoying smirk still on her face.

"Whatever. Don't let it go to your head. I just needed someone to talk to," Lizzie said, taking off the illusion ring before sitting back down on Hope's bed. It was still a crime against fashion but it was at least a useful one.

"Obviously. I'm sure that's the only reason you picked Hope," fake Hope said, an annoying smirk on her face that made Lizzie glare at the construct.

"What are you getting at?" Lizzie asked. So what if her subconscious had thought of Hope first when wanting someone to comfort her? They were friends, and she'd grown to really like having her around.

"Oh please, you can't really be that oblivious can you? I guess caecus really was the right word for you," Fake Hope said, her voice taking on a taunting lilt that Lizzie could only remember Hope using a handful of times.

"Ugh, all I wanted was to have someone to talk to. Not cryptic psychoanlyzation," Lizzie replied, rolling her eyes.

"You didn't forget that I'm just a manifestation of your own subconscious did you? Because you of all people know how this works," Fake Hope said, smiling down at Lizzie from where she stood next to the bed.

"Shut up," Lizzie groaned, without any real feeling behind it.

"You know arguing with yourself is the first sign of insanity," Fake Hope said, a teasing tone to her voice that Lizzie was already missing hearing.

"Yeah well, that ship sailed a long time ago," Lizzie said, not particularly caring. Yeah she was crazy, whatever. It wasn't like Hope had ever cared or treated her any different because of it. "Can't you just not talk?"

"Really? So you want me to just be eye candy then? Maybe you're not as blind as I thought," Hope said, giving off a small laugh that made Lizzie squirm uncomfortably. Most of the time the prism made an accurate enough copy it was hard to tell it wasn't real but occasionally some actions didn't match up right. And the way Fake Hope's eyes failed to light up as she laughed really served to remind Lizzie it wasn't her.

"Why don't you just come out and say whatever it is you're hinting at?" Lizzie demanded, glaring at the prism construct. This had been a bad idea, she'd forgotten how annoying the constructs could be. Since she tended to immediately say or act on whatever she thought anyways it had rarely been an issue for her, but she knew from Josie's experiences how trying it could be.

"Fine, I'll help you see the light. The reason you're unable to sleep tonight, the reason you go out of your way to be around Hope, why you go after Landon so often, why you fear Josie ever being with her... it's all the same reason. You l-"

"Enough!" Lizzie shouted, grabbing the crystal and shutting it off. Clutching it tightly she shook her head, forcing her thoughts past what the construct had been saying. This had been a stupid idea. She should've known better to try and use the prism for comfort, especially when her emotions were all over the place. It had been a been a bad idea born out of a moments weakness. So what if she had wished she had Hope there to comfort her, the tribrid had been there to do so a number of times. It didn't mean anything.

* * *

"So when did you and Hope start dating?" One of the witches asked, getting Lizzie to stop in her tracks.

"Umm, what? Where did you get that idea?" Lizzie asked, actually stunned to hear that. They'd just gotten back to the school after walking back from the docks and this is what they hit her with?

"Oh please, we all saw that eulogy," another of the witches said, Lizzie too shocked still to notice which one. "Hope was more emotional than I've ever seen her."

"Plus, she did say that you were her lover," another witch chimed in, Lizzie's glance darting over to her for a moment.

_'Oh fuck,'_ Lizzie thought, her eyes going wide with realization. Of course they would think that given the mess she'd made of trying to give her own eulogy. Hope was going to kill her when she found out.

"I need to go," Lizzie said roughly, not listening to anyone's protests and pushing her way out of the group. She could understand why they might've had that thought but how could any of them really believe that Hope and her were dating? They might be more crazy than she was.

Ignoring the calls from behind her she headed for her room, wanting to get as far away from people before they could bombard her with more stupid questions. Because it was stupid, how could her and Hope be dating? Sure they had been spending a lot of time together since she'd come back from Malivore, and there were always stupid rumors floating around but this was just idiotic.

To start with Hope had a boyfriend, one she'd tell anyone that asked how much she loved him. Hell pretty much the only thing most students knew about Landon was that he was Hope's boyfriend, especially after Josie had restored all of their memories. And it wasn't like Hope would ever date her anyways, if anything it'd be Josie she went for. Everyone went for Josie.

Reaching her room, Lizzie darted inside, relieved to see that Josie wasn't here at the moment. That was good, she didn't want her sister asking questions. Especially if she had heard the rumors as well. Knowing how these things worked they'd probably already spread across the whole school. And no one would even bother questioning why the hell Hope would bother dating someone like her. It was so absurd. In what world would Hope possibly return her feelings?

Her feelings?... _'Oh fuck,'_ Lizzie thought once more, having realized the path her thoughts had gone down. She hadn't meant that, right? She couldn't have feelings for Hope. As if to present a counter argument the memories of the last few months sprang to her mind, of her finding excuses to spend time with Hope, the jealousy she'd felt anytime she was with Landon, throwing herself at the first emotionally unavailable guy that walked by to distract herself, the simple joy that she felt when with Hope. She had a crush on Hope Mikaelson. "Dammit!"

She wasn't supposed to have a crush on Hope, that was her sister's thing. And Landon's. And Rafael's. And probably half the damn school. It wasn't supposed to be her. No wonder her subconscious had kept calling her blind, it should've been obvious since the moment she started inventing excuses to spend time with her. Unbidden another memory sprang to her mind, of the moment they'd both exited the noir world, of the way Hope had looked at her, a look full of relief and joy that had made her heart skip a beat even in the moment. Now thinking back on it she could feel her face flush, her heart speeding up just at the thought of Hope looking at her like that once more. "Double dammit!"

She had a crush on Hope Mikaelson. Now what the hell was she supposed to do?

* * *

**Author's Note:** And done. I did say that this was a story about Lizzie eventually realizing she had a crush on Hope. I never did say I'd have her act on it. Sigh, I really do need to write a story where Lizzie actually does for once. I like subtext too much. Well there's an idea for my next story. First though I have an extra scene for 3x02 to finish and then a story for another fandom that needs to be written. In the meantime let me know what you thought of this one and check out some of my other stories if you havent already. Or even if you have.


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